Hey, Guys! Hope you all enjoyed a happy and safe Memorial day weekend. We totally chilled, hard. We spent nearly every day in our backyard or front porch, leaving the house only to go out to breakfast and maybe a liquor store run. It felt really good.
I’ve been keeping myself busy the last few weeks painting all the doors a dark brownish gray to match the storm windows (It’s called Sealskin by Sherwin Williams). I’ve also replaced the old dated light fixtures on our garage. Replacing the fixtures was kind of a pain because our old lights were motion sensor activated. I don’t know if you have ever experienced finding and purchasing motion sensor outdoor wall lights before, but you pretty much have about five options. Apparently this is only a market in which old grandmas are purchasing old grandma lights. I guess the motion sensors are good for keeping the bad guys away.
We had three motion sensor lights that needed to be replaced, one next to the entry door of the garage, and two which flank the big garage door. After lots of searching I was able to find a few decent wall mounted light fixtures over at Lowes. They are black which I like very much, and semi nautical-industrial looking. They work, and the price was right. Beggars can’t be choosers, am I right? Those old ones looked gross, these are much better. Simple.
Here they are out on the garage. Now we have cool alley curb appeal too.
The back screen door also got painted. I would really like to eventually replace this backdoor with petit french doors that open onto a fancy new deck, but obviously that’s not happening anytime soon. Paint always works well as a good stop gap. Speaking of paint, I should probably consider giving those back steps some love.
While I had the paint out I decided the front screen door needed some freshening up as well. Out here I’d like to someday replace the screen door with a wooden one. The stairs are a mess and have needed to be torn out and replaced for years. Concrete steps are way expensive and we keep avoiding this project like the plague. Since we don’t know where we stand with the steps, it wouldn’t make any sense to invest in a new screen door without knowing what the big plan was. Maybe someday it will all come together but for now, paint saves the day.
Man, your blog is always so timely for me! I’m also on the hunt to replace the motion-activated light over our garage, but I was kind of leaning toward one with a dusk-to-dawn sensor instead of the motion thing, just because—as you pointed out—there aren’t a ton of good options. But your post made me think: because the current light is motion-activated, does that mean the new one has to be as well? Is there an electrical reason you stuck with the motion-activated light or was it simply a safety, no-bad-guys-allowed issue?
Hey Anne, Yeah, dur, I should’ve mentioned that, eh? Our garage lighting situation has no switches. Now if I was handy with electrical stuff I might consider installing some switches, but since I’m not, I’m sticking with the motion activated light scene. Our lights are dusk to dawn as well, they go on a brighter setting when activated by motion, but are always on in the evenings. Good luck finding and installing yours! You should let me know what you pick!
What a big difference! Paint can go a long way to making things look totally sharp!
Hey Staci – Yeah, paint is a miracle worker, isn’t it?
Great color (I especially love the name)! I like it a lot on the garage door. Looks nice against the crisp white.
Thanks, Jennifer! I don’t know why it took me so long to paint that white door, I really like it dark!
Love all those colors! What a difference paint can make! And I’m totally eyeing those wooden chairs in the left corner. They sexay.
Thanks, Caroline! Those chairs are part of a set that I got from Ikea a few years ago. With a little love they have held up pretty well :)
Absolutely love everything about the paint choice and light fixtures. We’re getting ready to give our exterior doors a refresh as well. Any painting tips you’d be willing to share? I’m particularly curious on whether to use a brush or a roller to avoid streaky-ness. And I think I remember you posting a while back about sprucing up door hardware with some kind of spray paint product. Rustoleum, maybe?
Thanks, Michelle! Sorry for the delay in response. I do have some painting tips, I used the same method that I used here on my painted kitchen cabinet doors. Use a good primer and you will be good to go. My new doors did turn out a little streaky with the final coat, but I believe it’s because I was using three year old paint. I plan on doing one final coat in new paint (the same color) and I’m almost positive I will lose the streaks. I did use rustoleum universal all surface paint in flat black for the hardware – it’s the best. Now I’ve seem some naysayers out there who say not to use spray paint on commonly used fixtures because it will chip, but we haven’t had any trouble with it. Good luck!
About the wooden screen door-my husband just finished installing one on our house and it is gorgeous. However, the door came basically unfinished, he had to stain and spar varnish it, install the hinges and the door hardware using chisels (I think?) and replace the trim around the door because we had the aluminum trim that I think everyone in Mpls put in in the 50’s(?) and he wanted wood trim. Now the aluminum storm windows look even worse, but oh well. One step at a time, right? Anyway, it is amazing how much difference changing up the door and light fixtures makes! Your entry ways look great!
the doors look awesome! especially against the house color!
Thanks, Shavonda!